The Wisconsin women's hockey team plays its second non-conference series of the season this weekend as it welcomes Cornell out of the ECAC to Madison. Faceoff for Friday's contest, which is sold out, is set for 7 p.m. while Saturday's contest now starts at 8 p.m. 

Player Notes
Junior Annie Pankowski tallied her first three goals of the season in a natural hat trick to help the Badgers defeat No. 3 Minnesota Duluth on November 19. The Laguna Hills, California, native is the first Badger to record a natural hat trick since Brooke Ammerman did so in 2012. Pankowski is just the fifth player in program history to earn a hat trick from a power play, short-handed and even-strength goal. The junior is now tied for fifth in Wisconsin history for career hat tricks with three.

Sarah Nurse is tied for second in the NCAA with 11 goals scored this season. Nurse currently ranks 10th in school history in career goals with 62. Nurse tallied her 100th career point in the Badgers 6-0 win over Bemidji State, becoming the 22nd player in program history to join the century club.

Senior Ann-Renee Desbiens leads NCAA goaltenders with four or more starts in goals-against average with a 0.74 clip while her six shutouts this year pace the country. The La Malbaie, Quebec, native also sports a .953 save percentage that paces NCAA goaltenders with more than four starts.

Senior Sydney McKibbon has 91 career points, and needs only nine more points to become the 23rd player in program history with 100 career points.

Number of the Week
5 – Annie Pankowski's four career hat tricks rank fifth in program history.  

Badgers on top in USCHO poll
Wisconsin started the 2016-17 season ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll, and has maintained that ranking through the eight weeks of play.

The Badgers received 148 votes in this week's poll, along with 13 first-place votes.

Along with Wisconsin, fellow WCHA members Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota also earned a top-10 ranking in the poll. Two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota sits second, receiving 134 points, Minnesota Duluth slotted in at third with 113 points and North Dakota came in at ninth with 32 points.

Pankowski named WCHA Offensve Player of the Week
After collecting her fourth career hat trick last weekend at No. 3 Minnesota Duluth, Wisconsin women's hockey junior Annie Pankowski was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Tuesday.

Pankowski's three-goal effort came in the No. 1 Badgers' 4-1 win at UMD on Saturday, helping UW earn a split against the Bulldogs.

The Laguna Hills, California, native recorded the program's first natural hat trick since Brooke Ammerman recorded one on Feb. 24, 2012 against Minnesota State. Pankowski's natural hat trick, which is three consecutive goals in a game, was the first in program history against a ranked opponent.

That wasn't the only special aspect of Pankowski's hat trick, as she recorded an even-strength goal, a power-play goal and short-handed goal, becoming the fifth player in school history to record a hat trick with those types of goals.

Pankowski, who missed four games earlier this year while playing with the U.S. National Team at the Four Nations Cup, is now tied for fifth in school history with four career hat tricks.

On the season, Pankowski has three goals and six assists in 10 games for the Cardinal and White.

Six Badgers earn spots on Team Canada rosters
Six Wisconsin women's hockey players - three current, two former and one incoming freshman - were selected to represent Hockey Canada at upcoming events, the association announced Wednesday.

Junior Emily Clark, senior Ann-Renée Desbiens, former Badgers Meaghan Mikkelson and Blayre Turnbull and incoming freshman Sophie Shirley were selected to the 22-player roster that will compete for the Canadian National Women's Senior Team against the United States in a two-game series in December. 

Clark, Mikkelson and Turnbull all helped Hockey Canada earn silver at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship earlier this year, while Desbiens was a member of the Canadian side that earned silver at the 2015 World Championship. Shirley, who signed her letter of intent to play for UW last week, will make her senior team debut next month. 

In addition, Clark and senior Sarah Nurse were selected to compete for Canada's National Women's Development Team at the 2017 Nations Cup in Germany and Austria, Jan. 4-7. 

The Canadian National Women's Senior Team will play a home-and-home against the U.S. starting on Dec. 17 with a 3:30 p.m. CT contest in Plymouth, Michigan. That game can be seen live on NBSCN. The series wraps up on Dec. 19 with a 6 p.m. CT contest in Sarnia, Ontario. 

Clark and Nurse look to regain gold at the 2017 Nations Cup, a tournament consisting of national teams from Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland for a four-day international tournament.

Prior to the Nations Cup, the Canadian National Women's Development Team will play an exhibition against Germany on Jan. 2.

Five Badgers help Team USA capture Four Nations Cup
Five Five current and former Badgers helped Team USA capture the 2016 Four Nations Cup after defeating border-rival Team Canada in the championship game.

Junior Annie Pankowski, along with former Badgers Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Alex Rigsby represented Wisconsin for the Red, White and Blue.

The U.S. opened up the tournament with a pair of shutouts, defeating Sweden, 6-0, and Finland, 4-0.

The U.S. lost to Canada in the third game, 3-2, but redeemed the loss when they defeated Canada in the championship game, 5-3.

Decker tallied three points from one goal and two assists in the championship game, while Knight added two goals to help lift the U.S. over Canada. This marks the seventh Four Nations Cup Championship that Team USA has won.

Rigsby finished the championship game with 13 saves in net for Team USA.

Note of the Week
Cornell is the 32nd team that UW has played a regular season or postseason game against. The only teams that sponsor NCAA women's hockey that UW hasn't played are Colgate, Merrimack, Penn State and RIT.

Hitting the Mark

Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson became the first coach in WCHA history to record 400 career wins in the Badgers sweep of Clarkson. Johnson is only the third coach in NCAA Division I women's hockey history to collect 400 career triumphs.